


Sacrifice

by Camellianswer



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Death, Edge - Freeform, Gen, Mass Murder, Non-Canonical Character Death, OKAY HEADS UP THIS IS TRAGIC, Suicide, THE EDGE WILL CUT U, Virus, from my edgy days, junkfic, lotsa death, ventpost, x is messed up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 02:57:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18512476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camellianswer/pseuds/Camellianswer
Summary: What if X lost hope in his race? What if he took every Reploid’s life into his own hands in order to end the Maverick Wars for good? Sometimes the pain is just too much…Noncanon end of the Reploid Era, 21XX-24XX.(This one isn’t too good. I wrote it in an hour, no revisions. It’s more of a vent post than anything else. Because I hate the world. Fight me.)





	Sacrifice

 

All was quiet, but dim hysteria laced the air. Barely suppressed panic was evident in the shrill murmurs, the restless movements of the crowd. Some had found places along the walls and benches and sat down, dead to the world. Others moved aimlessly, restlessly, trying to find something. A lifeline. Anything. But it was not to be found.

Zero had been there an hour and hadn’t seen any sign of X. He was beginning to worry. Communications were down; he checked the Patch on his arm once more, confirming that fact. Nobody could get a signal in or out. All was met with jarring static.

He shook his head, gritting his teeth as he moved away from the helpless crowd. Where was X?

He wasn’t alone in his agitation. Everyone here was missing somebody. Friends, family – well, the closest thing to family that these Reploids could have. The compound was packed to the brim with Reploids fleeing from every corner of the settled world. They hadn’t really started coming since last week. Now there were over four thousand Reploids waiting here. Waiting for a sign, for hope, for life.

Outside the compound was a death trap for any Reploid foolish enough to stay there. It was similar to the Erasure incident. Reploids had begun to drop like flies, data corrupted beyond recall. First the lower-rank types were eradicated. Then it started moving up, up the line until high-class Reploids, the Reploids that boasted of indestructible data, were dying. Until even Zero began suffering blackouts and blinding headaches.

That was before X had gone missing. Zero finally came here to look for him. He couldn’t handle being out there in the scourge anymore. He suspected that nobody else would be able to either. That meant that X was either here, or he was dead.

Someone plucked at his arm. “Sir?” He turned and saw a beautiful – if dingy and wan – medical Reploid staring up at him with earnest eyes. She reminded him of his young comrade’s girlfriend. Light hair, blue and white armor.

“Yes, Jenny?” He read her name tag. She pulled insistently but gently on his hand, as if she was trying to be respectful but couldn’t contain herself anymore.

“Your friends are here. They asked me to bring you. Please come, sir!”

Friends? A wild spark of hope awoke in him. Friends as in X? “Lead the way,” he said, and she pulled him along.

At the western end of the compound was a small set of stairs. They spiraled up into the dark, dusty arches of the ceiling, and creaked and swayed with every step they took. Zero was amazed that they held up this long, but thoughts of the staircase’s dangers were quickly crowded out by thoughts of being reunited with X.

Down a short hallway, and then Jenny opened a door. “Here they are, sir,” she said quietly.

Zero charged into the room. “X!”

“He’s not here, Zero.” Alia, speaking gently from a tiny glow in the corner of the room. She was wearing a headlamp, and it cast eerie shadows over her face so that it took him a moment to realize how distraught she was. “I’m glad you are here, though. We worried…”

“What happened?” His eyes adjusted to the gloom, and he made out Douglas, Palette and Lifesaver standing by a huge form along the ground.

“The bl-l-l-l-lackout.” Douglas replied wearily, a marring stutter in his voice. Zero had only heard him like that once before, when Douglas had nearly worked himself to death on a last-minute special weapon. A long time ago. He pulled himself back to the present to hear Douglas say “We held o-o-o-o-out, tried to save s-s-s-s-s-some peo-p-p-p-ple.”

“Is this everyone you got? Any other Hunters?” A grim silence met this query. Anger rose up in lieu of panic. “Stingray? Obsidian? Lit?” Still nothing. Alia dropped her eyes. “Not even Lit? He was a special unit! Nothing was supposed to take him down!”

“Nothing was supposed to take Signas down either,” Palette murmured.

So that was who it was. Zero looked back at the form on the ground, recognized Signas’ navy blue armor and glittering crystals. The helpless anger drained from him at the sight. The huge Reploid was in bad shape. Lifesaver and Douglas had him jacked into numerous spare batteries and nameless gadgets to try and keep him going, but it was a losing battle. Everyone could see it.

“He got a convoy together and saved over a hundred Reploids out there,” Alia explained in a hushed voice. “But he stayed out too long…and…”

Zero knelt down beside his commander. “Signas?”

A long pause. He might have fallen unconscious again. Then he spoke, so quietly, so slowly. “You’re here…Zero. And…X?”

“I’m working on that, sir. We’ll find him.”

“Won’t…be able to organize them…myself.” He knew as well as they did that he didn’t have much time left, and he didn’t mince words. “You and X. Lead…the refugees. Help them.”

“Count on it, sir.” Since Signas had signed on and took Zero’s place as leader all those years ago, he’d been content to remain a special A-Class Hunter and follow someone else’s orders. Now he knew he would have to act as leader once more.

Something akin to grief welled up in him, realizing that Signas was dying. He knew it, but he didn’t KNOW it until just now. He touched his commander’s shoulder. “Thank you for what you’ve done for them. For everyone.”

 

* * *

 

 

Zero was exhausted and decided to take a short recharge before scouring the compound again. When he woke up, he realized that more than a few hours had gone by. He tried to rise but was restricted by cables. “What?”

“Easy, Lifesaver just gave you a little extra power.” Palette helped him disconnect. “You’ve been on the move for a while. You could use it. And it’s not like Signas needs it anymore…”

He looked sharply at her, her quivering lips and strained face. She pulled away from him and rubbed a hand over her face. “Scrap. That was dumb of me. Sorry.” Tears started down even as she tried to stop it. “It’s just…I mean…Zero, if I could have taken his place, I would have. They need him, but they don’t need me! I wish I could have taken his place!”

He let her hold onto him for a while. Maybe he was muddled by sleep, but he dimly wondered if he should extend the same sympathy to Alia. But he just didn’t have the energy for it.

 

As Zero descended the stairs, a surprising noise made him halt. A notification on his Patch? But communications were down. He accepted the message and it sprang to life in holographic 3-D over his arm.

“Zero…”

“X! Where in Light’s name are you?!”

“I….I’m here, Zero. I’m in the compound.”

He couldn’t be more relieved to see X’s face again. “Where? We need to meet up.”

“No. No, first, do me a favor, please?” Something was strange about his voice. It rattled Zero’s brief elation and made him hesitate.

“X, what do you mean?”

“Just activate the private network I’ve set up. Link communications to it,” was X’s odd request.

He found the network and plugged it in. X’s voice instantly came from the speakers installed in the compound. Every Reploid in the place – and all the remaining com devices in the world – would be hearing him now.

“Good. Thank you, Zero. It’s working well.” In response to the revived network and X’s voice, the murmuring in the compound halted for a moment, and then came back twice as loud.

It was difficult, to say the least, to avoid the throngs of Reploids mobbing him, begging for information on the Father of all Reploids. Zero maneuvered through, found the back stairway that X had directed him to, and took the stronger steps two at a time, excited to see his friend.

At the end of a long hallway was the control room. Florescent lights lined the edges of the ceiling, casting garish shadows on the unidentifiable machinery inside. Zero pulled up at the doorway, realizing that the security glass was down. “X?”

After a few moments, his friend walked slowly into the middle of the control room. His feet dragged and he looked deeply fatigued, his back bowed and hands limply propped behind his back. “Zero…” X smiled with eyes that sparkled sadly. “I’m glad…I wanted to see you again…one last time.”

That vague sense of unease returned to Zero’s chest. “Well, I’m here, so can you explain what you’re talking about? And why is the glass down?”

X glanced at the floor, but whether it was from shame or sadness or weariness it was impossible to tell. “There are things here…that cannot be disturbed yet. I have to protect them for the plan. It’s complete…finally…”

The unease ramped up another few levels. “X, you sound…something’s wrong.”

“Not wrong. Not anymore. I’m going to make everything right.” He straightened up, took a deep breath, and announced “I’m ending the Maverick Wars forever…by removing Reploids from the equation.”

It took almost thirty seconds for that to sink in.

“X! You can’t be serious!”

“I am, Zero. I am very serious. I’ve thought this over very carefully. This is how it has to be.”

The calmness in his voice made something click into place. He ground a fist against his forehead, collecting himself. “The blackout. It was you, wasn’t it?”

“I’m sorry to say that it was.”

“WHY?!”

“They had to come here…all the Reploids had to come here. I had to be sure.”

“What, so you can make your stupid Elysium?” As soon as the words left his lips he regretted it, but anger drove him on. “X, your blasted field killed Signas!!”

There was a long pause. X, eyes blank with grief, bobbed his head once in a nod. “That’s good…”

Zero was speechless. Had X snapped? Was his friend Maverick?

“…he wouldn’t have wanted to see this.”

Zero slammed his palm on the transparent wall. “Blast it, X! You’re seriously trying to make your own world of Reploids, aren’t you?”

X shook his head, slowly, calmly. “No…I’m trying to end a world of Reploids.”

 

* * *

 

 

Zero found himself sitting on the floor, unsure when the strength had left his legs, unsure if he was hearing X properly.

X continued to explain. “Have you read about the second Holocaust, Zero? The Maverick death camps where humans were kept like animals and killed wantonly? Have you read about it, Zero?”

“Of course I have.”

“Then you understand, don’t you?”

“Maybe. This is your idea of a death camp?”

“No, Zero! No.” He pulled himself together. “I’m trying to prevent it from ever happening again. How about the 22XX Bloodbath? You remember it? We came too late. Too late to stop it. This is what I have to do to protect them all. To stop history from repeating.”

“Block off the world from Reploids. Is that it?” Zero looked up, his eyes dark and grim. “Lock us here, away from humans?”

“No…you’d eventually find a way out. Reploids can be incredibly resourceful when their lives are on the line,” he replied. “No. Reploids don’t belong in this world. We’ve only prolonged the pain. I’m going to remove every Reploid from this planet. That’s what I’m doing, Zero.” He turned to a small camera, no longer speaking to Zero alone, but to the entire world.

“Some of you may not agree with me. Some of you might believe that, given time, Reploids and humans can live together peacefully. But I’m not willing to risk thousands of lives on theory! That’s why, today, I’m putting an end to the terror and bloodshed. We all make sacrifices in war…this is one of them. You’ll all be free to live…”

“X!” Zero pounded on the glass again. “You have to stop this!”

Down below, Reploids were beginning to panic. Wailing started up, and dull crashes. A stampede was in the making.

X continued to speak calmly, but tears were streaming down his face. Zero couldn’t reach him. He turned and dashed out of the room, down to the chaos below. Find something to show X that his choice was the wrong one.

A female-type Reploid staggered over to him, hysterical. “He’s going to kill us all! Stop him!”

“Please, please!” someone caught at his arm. “I have a family out there!”

He saw a glimpse of Alia, leaning against a column, her face blank with horror.

Finally he found something. He stooped down, snatched up a small child Reploid, and headed back to X.

“X! Look at me!” He held up the trembling little boy. “Is this what you want? You want to kill him?” He was dimly aware that he was terrifying the child, but he couldn’t stop yelling. “X! You’re not just killing killers, you’re going to take children too! Is this what you want, X?!”

Monitors were going haywire from overloaded transmissions. People with connections to the Reploids inside the compound screamed desperately. Zero saw one woman, a dark-skinned lady with long hair, weeping. “Joseph! My son! Don’t kill my son!” And the child Reploid wailed and struggled as if he could reach her, crying “Mother! Mother!”

X saw it all and wept, but he did not move. “I’m sorry.”

Zero dropped Joseph and tried again to break the glass. “You can still stop this!”

“I can’t. You can’t. Nobody can.” He pressed a button, and communications went dead once more – this time for good. Only the sounds of panic from below remained. He walked slowly to another part of the room and sat down, dropping his head into his hands.

Zero’s hands hurt, but he kept pounding on the glass. A few small fissures began to spread from his relentless strikes. He used the edges of his armor, his foot, ignoring the stabs of pain that followed his recklessness. Then the entire wall shuddered and began to pull back. X had opened the room up.

He walked inside slowly, burning emotions raging in his chest like literal fire. Not one was coherent; they mingled, jarred him, sickened him. He reached X’s side and stood there silently for a moment. Then he got out “Exactly what have you done?”

X didn’t look up. “You made a promise once…to kill me if I went Maverick.”

“X, I asked you a question!”

“Will you keep that promise? I’m sorry…I was so tired, and this was wrong, living was wrong…”

“X…”

“But to continue living was Maverick as well, because all we ever did was hurt them…”

“X!”

“Right. Well…the system is running now, and nothing can stop it. The blackout is transmitting in here as we speak.”

Zero considered this with a detached air. “You didn’t have to drive them here. They could have just died in the wasteland.”

“No…too many remains. Humans will try to repair those. Here…I’m flooding the compound with acid. Nothing will be left for them to recreate us and bring that history on them again.”

Zero’s gaze went to the ceiling as he wondered if he could find a weak spot, break a hole and get some people out. They could make some kind of transmissions jammer, just for a little while, enough to get to help. If he had to, Zero could drag them to help. The blackout didn’t affect him as quickly as the others. If he could---

A bright light and tearing pain stopped his train of thought. One thing he had overlooked. He’d been stupid to assume that just because X was planning to kill them all together, he most likely wouldn’t try to harm anyone individually. As he hit the ground, losing sense of where his legs were, he realized how wrong he was.

X, his buster up, still smoking and red-hot around the rim from the charged shot. “I’m sorry…I know what you’re trying to do. Please understand, Zero…”

 

* * *

 

 

After that, he felt oddly calm. Maybe it was the blackout. Maybe he was too damaged. Or maybe it was something else. His emotions had always been something of a mystery to him anyways.

Down below, the shrieks began to die down. But they were not calm. The blackout was taking effect.

Little Joseph had been crying up until now. There he sat against the wall, quiet, almost angelic. Sleeping…

The sound of pouring liquid reached him. The acid X had mentioned.

“X, this is stupid. If anyone needs to die for peace to be restored, it’s me.” He didn’t know why he said it. Some kind of twisted rage.

“You really believe that? I’m sorry. We should have talked sooner.”

“Stop saying you’re sorry.”

“But as the father of all Reploids, I’m the cause of this. And it’s gone too far for anything to change if just one of us died. No…this is the only way.”

 

Zero was silent from then on. His head was pounding and he didn’t feel like talking anymore. Power was draining fast – getting chopped in half tends to cause that – so even if X hadn’t rigged this death trap, he’d probably die anyways.

Sensory input was going down. X was still talking, regretfully, mindlessly, but he couldn’t hear it anymore. He couldn’t see or hear anything. But he could feel, and from the rippling burning in his right arm, he guessed correctly that the acid had reached the upper levels. Soon even that pain would fade and he would be completely alone with his crashing thoughts.

_You didn’t have to do this, X._

_Why wasn’t I able to stop you?_

_Where…did this go wrong?_

_I can’t save anybody._

_Iris…_

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

\-------Extra Ending-------

 

 

After a few minutes, he realized he had been talking to himself. Zero was gone. Everyone was gone but him.

Acid lapped at the floor like gentle waves. Wisps of smoke rose up from the edges and curled in the air.

He was alone.

Why hadn’t the blackout taken effect? Why was he left? Desperation and grief drowned him. Alone again. What if even the acid left him alive? What if he was destined to live forever and pay for the sin of existing?

“No! I’m sorry!” his voice cracked out, echoing against the walls, and he couldn’t stop screaming. “Don’t leave me like this!” He clung to Zero’s arm, sobbing. “Don’t let me be alone!”

Every inch of his hated body throbbed with the pain of isolation. All he had left was pain.

It was instinctive when he converted his arm back into a buster. The image of his fire tearing Zero in two replayed in his head. This time…the fire would be put to better use.

Slowly, shakily, he raised the rim to his head. The closer it got, the quieter his sadness became. When it rested against his forehead, it was like a great burden had been taken off of him.

“Zero…wherever you are…I’ll be there with you.”

 

The rising acid sea wavered and rippled in the sudden explosion, but quickly went back to gently lapping at the two lying on the floor.

If this is peace…

…then God save us from war.

**Author's Note:**

> okay this is a vent post. I've said it three times already but i'll say it again. This is what results when I read the news. So now I don't read the news anymore.
> 
> Dr. Light put way too much on X's shoulders. I know that Megaman has some blatant Judeo-Christian themes, but this thing about X trying to save humanity like Jesus is just too much. Even Jesus was intimidated by what He had to go through to save us. It's just wrong for Dr. Light to expect something so huge of X. I kinda hate Light. He's too optimistic and naive. Wily might be crazy but at least he sees the way the world is going to end up. He's not delusional like Light.


End file.
